What is TMJ Joint and TMJ Disorder or TMD?
The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is located in the base of your skull that connects your jawbone to your skull. The joint is present on each side of your jaw and helps to move the jaw up and down as well as side to side for chewing and talking.
Due to some injury or damage to the joint one can feel the pain that is called temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome or temporomandibular disorder (TMD).
What can cause TMJ Disorder?
There could be various causes of TMJ disorder and could vary from person to person. However the causes behind TMJ disorder depend on many factors, most common are jaw injury, Teeth injury, arthritis, clenching or grinding of teeth and misalignment of jaw or teeth.
Signs and Symptoms
There are various symptoms of TMD, and here are a few common ones.
Pain: One of the most common symptoms of TMJ disorder is pain while moving your jaw up down or side to side. You can also feel pain while chewing. You can feel pain in your neck, have earaches, headaches and can also feel pain in the temple area. If you are not feeling pain near the jaw area then the doctor can look for the other symptoms to diagnose a TMD.
Sound: You might not feel while suffering from TMJ disorder but there are a few common symptoms which are painless. You can hear an unusual sound of popping, clicking. You can also feel a grinding noise while opening your mouth, eating or talking. Jaw noises are quite common and not all the noises are associated with the TMJ disorder.
If you are feeling pain while moving your jaw up down or side to side then this is one of the most common symptoms of TMJ.
Limited Jaw movement: The pain can make the restricted jaw movement while moving jaw in a certain direction or from the opening mouth.
Treatment
In many cases, the patient does not need any treatment for TMJ as the symptoms will go away without any treatment. If still, you are feeling pain and other TMD symptoms then your doctor can recommend various treatment options.
Painkillers and anti-inflammatories: Your doctor can prescribe you painkillers and anti-inflammation medicine to get you some relief from pain.
Therapies: While few patients still feel pain after having pain reliefs there is another treatment that does not include any medicine.
Your doctor can ask you to do a few jaw strengthen exercises, he/she can also prescribe an ultrasound and heat and ice moist.
Other Ways to Treat TMD
TMJ is a joint which connects your jaw and skeletal. The people who are suffering from the TMJ disorder, especially those who are having chronic TMD suffer a lot. People can have depression, high levels of anxiety and stress which can affect their day to day life. This can lead to many other physical as well as mental illness to the patient.
In such cases, psychosocial and behavioral interventions are the best and most economical ways to treat TMJ disorder. There are many surveys which recommend educational and behavioral interventions can control the TMD.
One such behavioral intervention is Electromyographic biofeedback that is applied to TMD. Electromyography monitored the contraction of masticatory muscles in this method.
There are several other behavioral and psychosocial interventions that are used in perspective of a patient’s pain and physical symptoms. These interventions can help to reduce the pain and other physical symptoms of TMD and the added symptoms like stress, anxiety and depression.
There are various studies which support the behavioral interventions for the chronic pain caused by TMD as their interventions are helpful and effective in treating TMD.
For more help managing your TMJ disorder, contact the trusted team Advanced Dental Implant and TMJ Center . You can visit their website or call them at (662) 655 -4868 to ask questions or to schedule an appointment.